Aer Lingus pilots axed

PILOTS working for Irish national airline Aer Lingus are set to strike after talks over redundancy payments broke down. A survival plan for the airline, which has been in crisis since the September 11 terror attacks, stipulates that 156 pilots out of about 500 have to go. A

About 70 have left voluntarily so far, while ten junior pilots were given redundancy notices yesterday. Their trade union, Impact, claims the package being offered to long-serving pilots is not good enough and will recommend strike action at a meeting next week. Managers say they cannot afford to pay any more.